Cardiac Arrest Survival Even After CPR might be Affected by Race and Sex

According to the CARES, about 350,000 individuals undergo out of hospital cardiac arrest annually in the US. 

In the new Circulation study, researchers found the sum of an estimated 624,000 nontraumatic out-of-hospital cardiac arrests from 2013 to 2022, reported in CARES, Statewide and communitywide registries that covers a catchment population of nearly half of the population of the United States of America collect data on out of hospital cardiac arrest and submit such data to CARES. 

Paul Chan the author pointed out that he believes that poor quality CPR, not bias most probably is the reason why CPR has variable effect on survival. “If there was bias, then you would note that the majority of the no benefits were among the Black people especially when the cardiac arrest occurred in public domain.” 

White patients were 33 percent more likely to survive from the case of cardiac arrest when the CPR was done by a stranger as compared to when it was not done by a stranger. Thus, bystander CPR was associated with only a 9% increase in survival among Black people. The bystander CPR yield was similar to that of Whites or higher among Native American patients relative to other races and ethnic groups. 

In the home environment, the CPR-associated survival advantage for blacks was a mere 3 % as compared to the 30 % of those who suffered cardiac arrests in public areas. Indeed, in every ethnic and racial group, higher rates of CPR related survival was witnessed among patients who had a cardiac arrest in places that are more public such as the streets as compared to those who had the cardiac arrest at home.  

It is a rather interesting question, whether lower survival rates after CPR are connected with a higher probability of a patient having some comorbidities, as Chan put it, comorbidity is the elephant in the room in the CPR survival disparity studies. 

However, as his study, which showed that Native Americans individuals are the most likely to survive compared to other groups, many of them being obese and have other related diseases like diabetes, illustrates that high comorbidities are not a reason for poor survival among Blacks and females. 

Perform CPR and Do It Well for all: 

He says, more people should know how to do CPR and should not shy off from acting if they saw someone falling down. People need training in CPR and how it is performed efficiently. 

Reference: 

Rubin R. Even After CPR, Surviving Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Might Be Influenced by Race, Sex. JAMA 

doi:10.1001/jama.2024.18590